Astroair Astrology by Mandi Lockley

Monday, 13 August 2012

Olympic Inspiration in the Stars

The 2012 Olympics are over and didn’t London put on a spectacular Games? With the Paralympics to come, the talk now is of legacy and of inspiring the next generation.

So, if you’re feeling motivated to take up a new sport, look to your Sun sign for inspiration. Just for fun, here are a few suggestions.

Aries

It’s got to be the sprint. Fast off the mark and over in seconds, you’re bound to cross the finishing line in first place. Boxing is another good option for burning up all that Mars energy and aggression.

Taurus

Slow to start, but with enviable endurance, Taurus is best suited to the long races, like the Marathon or the 10,000 metres. If you can be bothered to get out of bed to train!

Gemini

Any racket sport that requires good hand-eye coordination is good for Gemini. Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis. Because you’re the sign of the twins, the doubles matches might be your best bet. Then again, Handball might suit. How are you ever going to make a decision?

Cancer

You like to ensure you’re heavily defended at all times, so any sport that involved wearing protective armour is good for you. Why not give Fencing or Taekwondo a try? If ball sports are more your thing, you could try Football. In a defensive position, natch.

Leo

You’re ruled by the Sun, that big gold disc in the sky. Because of this, you don’t care what sport you do, so long as you get the gold medal at the end of it. You’d rather just have the medal and not do the sport. No pain, no gain, Leo!

Virgo

You’re the master of the little things, so Table Tennis is for you. Dinky bat, tiny ball and a small table. Perfection!

Libra

For the chance to show off your grace and beauty, it’s got to be the Synchronised Swimming or the Artistic Gymnastics. And you get to compete wearing full make up and a pretty sparkly costume.

Scorpio

Because your co-ruler is Mars then the martial arts are great for you, so why not give Judo or Taekwondo a go? More than just competitive sports, they are about control, mastery and self-defence, three things Scorpio naturally excels at.

Sagittarius

Your symbol is half-man half-horse with a bow in its hand, so it can’t be anything other than Archery or Equestrian for you. Or, because you’re a forward thinking soul, why not try the Modern Pentathlon. It includes both arrows and horses and more besides.

Capricorn

You’re used to working through obstacles, so why not give the 400m Hurdles a try? Failing that, how about weightlifting? You already carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, so what difference will a few more kilos make?

Aquarius

Team sports are the most obvious choice for you. How about Basketball, which will also have you flying through the air? If you prefer something more individual (and a bit weird) then the Pole Vault is also a bit like flying!

Pisces

You’re the fish of the zodiac, so take your pick of anything in the water. Swimming, Diving, Rowing, Sailing, Canoeing, Water Polo. Give them all a go, water baby.

www.mandilockley.com

All pictures from wikimedia commons. Gymnast pic by Tomtheobald, Hurdles pic from by Thomas Faivre-Duboz.

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Wednesday, 1 August 2012

A Big Announcement + London 2012

A Special Announcement

I’ve been dropping a few hints here and there, but I can now reveal (drum roll, please) that my first book will be published at the end of September.
It’s all about Saturn in Scorpio and will be your comprehensive guide to Saturn’s journey through the sign of the scorpion from early October 2012 through to late 2015.

Running to over 60 pages, it covers all the themes of this transit in great depth, both from your very personal perspective and from the point of view of the collective, including how Saturn in Scorpio fits in with the Uranus-Pluto squares and other key alignments.

The themes, opportunities and challenges of Saturn in Scorpio’s transit through your birth chart are covered in much detail, with chapters on Saturn in Scorpio through the houses and on Saturn’s aspects to your natal planets. This is information you can’t get anywhere else. Yes, there’s plenty written about Saturn transits, but this material is very specific to Saturn in Scorpio.

The book will be available for download from this blog and from www.mandilockley.com in PDF format. I am also exploring Kindle and other ebook formats.

More information and exclusive excerpts are coming in the following weeks.

Subscribe to this blog (below) to get the latest updates or register your interest by emailing mandi@mandilockley.com (your details won’t be passed on to any third parties).

London 2012

I hope you are enjoying the season.

London, my adopted home, is abuzz with the 2012 Olympics and despite Mercury Retrograde our clunking transport network is holding its own, at least for now.

The Opening Ceremony was a triumph.

The chart (set for 9pm, 27.7.12, London) has unconventional Aquarius on the Ascendant, reflecting the bonkers humour and irreverence that marked the occasion. Even The Queen made delightful fun of herself in a James Bond sketch, perfectly reflecting the playful, regal Sun in Leo squaring the Aquarius Ascendant. 007 himself is a great manifestation of the Moon in Scorpio - the secret agent protecting his motherland. That Moon also came out in a fantastic sequence where all the scary monsters of children’s literature came out to haunt the kids in their dreams.

The most memorable and surprising sequence was the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, with a flame for ever competing nation coming together into one spectacular whole. It’s what you would expect with an event chart featuring a Fire Grand Trine of theatrical Sun Conjunct Mercury in Leo, quirky Uranus in Aries and international Sagittarius on the midheaven. Even a retrograde Mercury less than two degrees close to the Sun (an affliction in traditional astrology) was not enough to dampen the flames.

You can see a video of the lighting of the cauldron here http://www.businessinsider.com/video-of-the-olympic-cauldron-lighting-in-london-2012-7

Now let the gold rush begin (come on Team GB)!

Touch the Moon

August’s Moon Phases are updated at http://www.mandilockley.com/moon_phases.html

August’s Void of Course Moon times are updated at http://www.mandilockley.com/moonpages.html (an explanation of Void of Course and how to use it is included)

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Sunday, 1 July 2012

After Your Transit (& Some Good News)

So, you survived your big transit. Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and/or Pluto has finished its conjunction, square or opposition to your natal planet.

A big sigh of relief all round.

If you follow your transits, you were probably anticipating it long before it came and as it inched ever closer to its target, you watched carefully for signs of its influence. Perhaps your transit reflected major life changes, challenges, losses or new opportunities? Maybe years of hard work started to pay off or conversely, you had to face the consequences of unwise decisions made in the past? Possibly, the shift was more internal as you chose to (or were forced to) confront deep-rooted psychological baggage, heal old wounds, grieve, move on, let go.

Now what?

If your transit brought any kind of loss, shock, major change or disruption, chances are, now it’s over, you’re seeking to replace those losses and reverse the changes, to try to return things to how they were. It’s human nature.

Here are a couple of scenarios.

A relationship breaks up under a Uranus transit. After a while, you’re ready for romance again. You’re attracted to your new partner because he’s just your type. Consciously or unconsciously, something about him reminds you of your old flame. Your new partner pays you constant attention, says you belong together forever and shows you off to his friends. This is all so so flattering and is just how your former relationship started. The nice part, before the possessiveness and the jealousy kicked in. Your new beau doesn’t seem to approve of your best friend and you start to see less of her because he’s taking up all your time. At parties, you chat and flirt your way around the room because that’s the way you are, but your partner doesn’t like it.

The old pattern could be recurring, but this is your opportunity to put the lessons of that Uranus transit to good use.

Do you (1) run a mile, but feel miserable alone and then either repeat the pattern down the line with someone else, or stay lonely; (2) leave the relationship, but work on your own issues, through therapy, self help, through your chosen spiritual practice, or simply by giving yourself proper time to reflect and heal; (3) stay in the relationship, but confront the issues early on and do your best to set healthy boundaries, remaining prepared to move on if it doesn’t work; or (4) stay in the relationship, do nothing and hope for the best?

There’s no right or wrong answer, this is not a quiz, nor is it an advice column. Options (1) and (4) seem to be the least likely to lead to growth and learning. But then, none of the options are without risk and all of them, except (4) involve change.

Scenario two.

You lost your job under a Saturn transit, so you look for a new one. You would love to do something completely different, but you also have to think about the practical issues and the bills that need to be paid, especially in these straightened times. Conscious that you might be missing an opportunity to fulfil a dream, you give yourself the best odds by going for roles similar to your last one. The dream might be on hold, but using the ‘be realistic and patient’ lesson of your Saturn transit, you realise that there are things you can do to make things better in your next job.

For example, you think carefully about what you liked and disliked in previous roles; you target companies which better reflect your personal values; in interviews, you don’t just ask about what the job itself entails, you ask also about the company culture, the atmosphere in the office, the personalities of the team you’d be working with. On your resume, you emphasise the skills that you most like to use, making less of those you don’t. Perhaps you consider temping, freelancing, part time or contract work. It might lack the security of a permanent role, but it can provide an income and buy you some time to find something you truly want to do.

Overall, you remain realistic and you’re prepared to be flexible. You’re patient and hopeful and you don’t give up. You’ve absorbed the lesson of your Saturn transit.

You’ve Got To Have A Dream

Maybe you’re one of the lucky or brave ones, who really can follow your dream. If you’re not, never lose hope. As the old song goes, if you don’t have a dream, how’re you going have a dream come true? It’s wise though to reassess our dreams on occasion and particularly after a life changing transit. We age, we grow, our priorities change, the world changes around us, unexpected spanners fall into the works.

Think about that dream of old. What does it boil down to? What’s its essence? Why did you want to be a painter/cosmonaut/vet/photographer? Were you following an innate talent or a personal interest? Were you trying to please a parent or conform to a social stereotype of success? Was it for the money, the power, the recognition, to fit in? Did it stem from a need to express yourself creatively, to help others, to give something back to the world?

If you look at it from this angle you can see more easily where you need to let go of old dreams and also when to hold onto dreams that are still valid, but need to be adapted so they better suit who and where you are now. You may even find that you have already made your dream come true, but didn’t realise it because it manifested differently to your fixed expectation.

As Within, So Without: What We Can Learn From World Events

This post explores how, so often after a difficult transit, it’s too easy to carry on repeating the mistakes of the past, when instead we could use the wisdom our transit brought to break unhealthy, outdated patterns of behaviour.

I think the current world situation is a lesson to us all of the dangers of not learning the lessons of the past, of blindly trying to tread a path that just doesn’t work for us anymore. Since the banking crisis of 2008 (when Pluto moved into Capricorn and Saturn squared Pluto and opposed Uranus) most of the energy and resources have been directed towards restoring the old ways of doing things. The capitalist model based on constant growth which benefited so many of us while Pluto was in Sagittarius simply doesn’t work under Pluto in Capricorn. Somehow, we need to find another way of doing things that suits the world as it is now, while at the same holding those people and entities who contributed to the crisis to account. Seven upcoming hits of Uranus to Pluto will see to it that major change does occur, but collectively we need to choose wisely, in keeping with the symbolic themes of Pluto in Capricorn. Let’s hope we make the right choice.

Some Very Exciting News!

You may have noticed less posts from Astroair Astrology, so I wanted to let you know why. The good news is that I am working on my first book. The subject is a secret for now, but I will be publishing some teasers and excerpts in the weeks to come. All being well, it will be published as an e-book in late September this year and can be downloaded from here, amongst other places.

In the meantime, thanks sooooooooooo much for continuing to support Astroair Astrology

Click on this link for July's Moon Signs and Void of Course Moon Signs
Click on this link for July's Moon Phases

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With love, Mandi
www.mandilockley.com

Friday, 1 June 2012

Everything you need to know about June 2012

June is upon us, bringing three significant and exciting astro-events.

Big(ish) Event Number One

Firstly, there’s a Partial Lunar Eclipse on June 4. It falls at 14 degrees-14 minutes of Sagittarius and Gemini. If you have planets or points at 13-15 degrees of the mutable signs - Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius or Pisces - this Eclipse will touch your chart.

You can get your chart for free at http://www.astro.com/ or http://www.alabe.com/ and also see my article Working with Eclipses for tips on how to interpret Eclipses.

Big Event Number Two

June 5/6 brings a rare transit, when Venus, planet of love, money and values, passes directly between the Sun and the Earth and is visible as a small dark disk passing across the Sun’s face.

Significantly, Venus falls in the same degree as the Eclipse the day before, 15 degrees-44 minutes of Gemini, so if you have 15 degrees of the mutable signs highlighted in your chart, this is an event well worth following.

But what is a Transit of Venus exactly? What does it mean? The links below should help...

As usual, NASA is the first port of call for all things astronomical. Their special site includes explanation, history and a live webcast of the event on June 5/6: http://venustransit.nasa.gov/transitofvenus/

Everything you need to know, including advice on viewing it safely (you should never look directly at the Sun) at: http://www.transitofvenus.org/

A couple of good articles from the ever reliable TMA:
http://mountainastrologer.com/tma/venus-transit-the-message-is-love
http://mountainastrologer.com/tma/astrology-as-if-the-sky-matters-venus-retrograde

Finally, this excellent post discusses events that coincided with previous Venus Transits. What will this transit bring as Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee and mega-movie Prometheus is released? http://copycateffect.blogspot.mx/2012/05/venus-transits-sol.html

Click on image to enlarge

Big Event Number Three

June 24 sees the first exact square of Uranus in Aries to Pluto in Capricorn. On the big picture level, this aspect has been playing out a while, but now it’s exact it will reach its highest intensity, with six further exact squares coming September 2012 through March 2015.

Here’s what it signifies, in a nutshell:

Since 2007 an exciting, powerful and incredibly disruptive planetary alignment has been forming. Rebellious Uranus has been squaring up to Pluto in Capricorn. Uranus’ energies have been compared to those of the mythical Prometheus, who stole the fire from the gods and gave it to man. Combined with Pluto, Uranus ignites revolutionary impulses and upsets the status quo. This planetary combination has been associated with mass rebellion against the establishment, revolutions, civil rights movements and radical social and political change.

The above is from Uranus-Pluto and Our Changing World. The article includes a fascinating look back at historical Uranus-Pluto alignments. Read more here....

How are Astroair’s 2012 predictions playing out? Find out here...

Over the next three years the Uranus-Pluto squares occur between 6 and 15 degrees of Aries and Capricorn, so if these degrees are highlighted in your chart (and also 6-15 degrees of Cancer and Libra), then these squares will form a significant transit to your chart. A time of change is on the horizon for you, that's for sure.

Moon News

Moon Phases and Void of Course Moon Times for June are up on my website. See http://www.mandilockley.com/ for details.

With love,
Mandi

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Saturday, 19 May 2012

What's the World Coming To?

While Astroair has been ‘resting’ her colleagues have been busy analysing the current world trends, as we steer our way through these critical times. Here’s my pick:

Will Greece Leave EU as Venus Transits Sun?

From Jude Cowell’s political astrology blog, Stars Over Washington:

“This reluctant astrologer is keeping a close watch on the June 5/6, 2012 Venus Transit as a timing mechanism relating to an unusual forming or break-up of association....” Read More...

***

ASTROTABLETALK posted a piece asking how the current astro-political climate is reflected in our subconscious:

“That, apparently, is how Jung saw World War II coming, during the last Uranus-Pluto square: from his patients dreams. When the collective is intensely activated, as it is now, it will push its way into our dreams.” Read More...

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

Pluto and the Language of Astrology

I’ve read a few comments lately from people anticipating their Pluto transit or discussing transits they’ve had. Some speak positively of the growth and change opportunities that come with the transit and others speak of the transit more fearfully. What most of them have in common, though, is that they speak about what Pluto has caused, what Pluto is bringing.

I have to say that I don’t think Pluto actually does anything to us. After all, it’s just a small, cold, dwarf planet with a scary name, in the far reaches of our solar system. Right? How can its incredibly slow movements possibly cause psychological stress or momentous change in our personal lives? That just doesn’t make any logical sense. Frankly it’s a ridiculous notion.

But still, Pluto transits tend to bring Plutonic themes into our lives, themes which carry their own signature, a certain vibration. As we experience and share what occurs during these transits, our collective astrological knowledge builds up. This takes us away from the physical rock in the sky and into the realms of the symbolic. On this level, astrology works. So, while that might seem a contradiction of my statement above that Pluto (along with all the other planets) doesn’t actually make anything happen to us, it’s actually not. I believe that people commenting about what Pluto is doing to them are not imagining things. Their Pluto transit is undoubtedly affecting them, it’s just that it’s not physical Pluto, it’s symbolic Pluto, ‘astrological’ Pluto. Of course, astrological Pluto is energetically linked to the movements of physical Pluto, but it’s not the same thing.

So instead of saying Pluto is doing this or that (which implies physical Pluto), it might be better so say that Pluto transits reflect times in our lives when our experiences resonate with the symbolic and mythic meanings that astrology has ascribed to Pluto. This is a longwinded way of expressing it of course. It’s hard to find the words to put it more simply. In the end, it’s usually easier to simply say that Pluto is doing this to me, even though, if we understand astrology, we don’t really mean it that literally.

As for why astrological Pluto affects us, I don’t know. Astrology is not, and shouldn’t, be logical. We can accurately predict where the planets will be located on any given date, but we can’t predict exactly how the astrological, symbolic themes of the planets will be reflected here on earth in our lives. Astrology is still such a mystery to us, but I believe that symbols have power and that that power becomes more tangible, more alive and more meaningful as we interact with it.

Hades picture from http://taekwondonj.deviantart.com/art/Hades-55351038?offset=10

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Saturday, 3 March 2012

March Update

A quickie post with a few tips and astro-links for March.

Void of Course Moon Times for March are up on my website. These are a useful timing tool. The basic rule is not to schedule anything important when the Moon is Void. Full data and explanation here.

Moon Phases for March are up. Following the Phases of the Moon is a good way of tuning into the prevailing energies. Is this a time for rest or a time for action? Find out here.

Mercury is Retrograde from March 12 until April 4. Mercury retrograde is a time to review, regroup and redo. Expect things to go awry with regards to communication, travel and the technology we rely upon day to day. Have a back up plan in place. Avoid signing any important contracts or making any big decisions, wait until Mercury is moving forwards if possible. Because Mercury turns Retrograde in fiery Aries, be careful what you say during this period, impulsive remarks could get you into trouble and you can't take back the spoken word. Mercury slips back into Pisces on March 23, which is a good time to rest and release negative thinking patterns.

The Sun is in Pisces until 20th March, then it moves into Aries. The Aries ingress of the Sun marks the Spring Equinox (Autumn Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere). This is an important date, marking the astrological and pagan new year. The Equinox chart is a good pointer for the following months to come. A post on this coming soon.

The Sun sign quotes here at Astroair continue to be very popular. Here are some famous quotes for Pisces and Aries.

The Top Posts section has just been updated at my website. Click on the link to catch up on some great articles you may have missed first time around.

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